The term cigarette, originally a French term for small cigar, is now most commonly used to refer to a tobacco cigarette. As used herein, however, the term encompasses other structurally similar products, i.e., those with a paper or leaf wrapping containing processed leaf and other substances such as tobacco or cannabis (colloquially referred to as “joints”). Cigarettes may be machine rolled or hand rolled usually using paper or whole-leaf tobacco. Tobacco wrapped in whole leaf tobacco is typically referred to as a cigar and if the product is modified to include cannabis it is colloquially referred to as a “blunt.” Regardless of the composition and wrapping, cigarettes are similar in that they have an elongated substantially cylindrical rod shape that is not designed to withstand significant bending or crushing forces. Accordingly there is a need to package cigarettes in containers that reduce bending or crushing forces. Machine rolled cigarettes are typically uniform in size and shape and are often packaged in a way that relies on adjacent cigarettes to provide structural in the package. Hand rolled and other non-uniform products cannot be as tightly packaged.
In some locations, the states of Colorado and Washington, for example, retail (non-medical) sale of marijuana products is permitted. Product is sold in a variety of forms including “joints” and “blunts,” which, as noted above, are forms of cigarette as used herein. With such products, there may be additional packaging concerns beyond structural integrity of the products. Providing a substantially airtight packaging helps preserve freshness. Also, child resistant packaging is beneficial and, in some instances, mandated by law. In Colorado, for example, child-resistant packaging is required for both recreational and medical cannabis products.
Various multiple-compartment cigarette packaging techniques are known in the prior art. Typically, such prior art packages and containers are box-shaped, made of a paper, cardstock or metallic material and contain a hinge associated with each of one or more lids. The compartments are typically sealed as a single package or are individually sealed to preserve freshness, but the seal is often a one-time seal that is destroyed when opened. U.S. Pat. No. 2,283,856 to Hoenig; U.S. Pat. No. 2,983,424 to Glass; U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,010 to Rogers; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,903 to Focke et al. disclose multi-compartment, individually sealed packages for containing more than one group, brand or type of cigarette. U.S. Pat. No. 2,983,424 to Glass and U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,010 to Rogers show two-compartment, dual-lid cigarette packages with the separate lids and hinges on the same side of the package. U.S. Pat. No. 2,163,828 to Chalmers and U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,126 to Barnard disclose two-compartment cigarette packages with a single hinged lid covering both openings on the same side of the package. U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,412 to White and U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,903 illustrate a rectangular, two-compartment cigarette package with hinged lids on opposite sides of the package. U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,444 to Bray et al., which discloses a typical hinged-lid, box-shaped container that is made from a “rigid card material.” Further examples of cigarette or tobacco packages made of a paper or cardstock material are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,496,474; 2,960,264; 5,044,550; and 5,097,948. Other materials, such as metals, woods and plastic, have also been suggested for use in multi-compartment containers for making crushproof and freshness-preserving cigarette containers. U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,369 to Cernera and U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,275 to Rice, Jr. disclose cigarette containers that may be made of various materials, such as plastic, wood, metal and cardboard. U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,883 to Thomas et al. discloses a package or container for holding two or more types or brands of smoking articles, such as cigarettes, having a generally rectangular shape with two openings on opposite sides of the container and a method of making the same is disclosed. The container has two lids, a body, and a separation member that divides the container into two or more compartments. U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,903 to Focke et al. discloses “trough-like recesses” for reducing movement of individual cigarettes and providing structural support. U.S. Pat. No. 2,491,617 describes a case in which each cigarette is held under slight spring pressure applied longitudinally to an end thereof and is partially ejected from the case when a movable band containing an opening is moved into alignment with a particular cigarette.